Will take darshan of Lord Ram in Ayodhya after construction of temple is over: Cong leader Digvijaya Singh

Satna: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has said he would visit Ayodhya to take darshan of Lord Ram after the construction of the temple in the Uttar Pradesh city gets over.

He made the statement while speaking to reporters on Wednesday, days after his party declined the invitation to attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22. The grand old party accused the BJP-RSS of making it a 'political project' for electoral gains.

"We have faith in Lord Ram...We are not in a hurry to have darshan of Lord Ram. Once the construction (of Ayodhya temple) is complete, we will go there," the Rajya Sabha member said.

"Firstly, we don't need an invitation for the darshan of Lord Ram. Secondly, according to the Hindu scriptures, the consecration ceremony cannot take place in an under-construction temple," he said.

"Thirdly, the way the BJP, the Vishva Hindu Parishad, the RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have turned it into an event...Name any political party which is taking part in it? No one is going. No Shankaracharya is going...No saint is going. They have snatched away the rights of the Nirmohi Akhara," he alleged.

The dispute over the place regarding the Ram temple and Babri mosque went on for years. The dispute is as old as 150 years, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said.

"The crux of the dispute was that the temple should be built where Lord Ram was born and where the mosque existed. When the Supreme Court has given the decision that the temple can be built on the disputed land, why was it not built (there)," he said.

The temple has been built on the land which the former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao acquired and allotted it for the Ram temple construction, Singh added.